The highly anticipated contest between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid over the weekend finished 1-0 in favour of the Rojiblancos as they earned all three points off Barcelona for the first time in a decade.
The kings of the 1-0 did not sit back and defend their one-goal lead when the second half began. They took charge of the ball, and in contrast to their defensive mindset, looked set to get another goal to build on their lead to cement their victory. However, the three points came anyway.
The 1-0 win over the visitors was also the first victory that Diego Simeone registered over Barcelona in all his years coaching Atletico Madrid. Despite the absence of Luis Suarez, the rest of the team managed to dispatch Barcelona right after their neighbours Real Madrid did the same in El Clasico.
While Atletico are usually comfortable not having the ball, and are very defensively resolute, they showed a different side yesterday. Stats show that possession was evenly distributed with 46% of the ball with Simeone’s side.
Atletico currently sit second in the La Liga table, with 20 points from 8 games. The four points dropped are from two goalless draws against Huesca and Villarreal. Furthermore, they have a game in hand on the team above, Real Sociedad who have the same number of points from 9 games.
Diego Simeone is heralded as one of the best defensive minded coaches of all time. That defensive mindset has been on display right from the get go as Atletico have conceded only 2 goals from 8 games.
The attack, starring Luis Suarez, Joao Felix, Angel Correa and Yannick Carrasco have enough talent to bring the title back to Atleti. Carrasco scored a brilliant goal against Barcelona yesterday to give his team the win.
On the other hand, Suarez and Felix have scored 5 goals each and have been very impressive so far.
While Barcelona and Real Madrid have faltered since the beginning of the campaign, Atletico have enjoyed a stable start to the campaign.
With the tumult encircling the two biggest clubs of the Spanish league, this season could be Simeone’s chance to capitalise and usurp the title back from the hands of their city rivals, Real Madrid.
